By Dalia Diaz
The Lawrence City Council voted in favor of a mandatory recycling program that the Recycling Coordinator Lorena Salazar had been pioneering – and now she’s leaving.
Lorena came to that position in the summer of 2018 with a myriad of hopes and ideas and has been able to realize them all in such a short time. We asked her about her reasons for leaving the city and she assured us that it was a very difficult decision.
“My husband and I thought about it very carefully,” Lorena told me. “I love my job here and it is hard breaking getting away from something you have a passion for.”
She went on to tell me that the time spent as recycling coordinator for the City of Lawrence had been very rewarding. She was given absolute freedom to plan, propose and execute changes to benefit the city with total support from the administration.
After establishing the current recycling system, Lorena dedicated most of her time to educating the community on its benefits and she was able to create educational materials. Her next plan involves teaching residents the advantages of composting to use in their gardens and flower beds.
“Beginning with every city employee I have worked with, there was total cooperation from everyone,” Lorena told me.
So why is she leaving?
The conversations Lorena had with her husband encompassed finances involving two separate day cares. They have a 4-year-old girl and a new born boy which takes as big bite of anyone’s salary but the decision came down to time: The time spent as a family.
Lorena leaves her job because she spends almost every night out attending meetings. If not at council meetings, she participates at community gatherings or meetings of neighborhood associations. That is time taken away from her young family and it is her biggest concern. She will be missed.
